ADVERTISEMENT

Path to 1 Seed ...?

UK will play themselves into a 2 seed, and IMO are a final four team with essentially 3 point guards, strong FT shooting, and a center in Richards who is really coming on strong.

After typing that I think I’ll go throw up.
Agree with you. Hate to admit it, but they are looking legit. Their downfall is the 3 pointer. But they attack the basket, and play really good defense.
 
Agree with you. Hate to admit it, but they are looking legit. Their downfall is the 3 pointer. But they attack the basket, and play really good defense.

Yep and they get to the rim at will. If Richards gets in foul trouble though that could hurt them.
 
Agree with you. Hate to admit it, but they are looking legit. Their downfall is the 3 pointer. But they attack the basket, and play really good defense.

Yes Kansas has the #1 D per KenPom.
 
I just don’t trust uk’s front court if/when Richards gets in foul trouble. Montgomery and Sestina are inconsistent
 
Yep and they get to the rim at will. If Richards gets in foul trouble though that could hurt them.
They can’t shoot. Some team will get hot and they won’t be able to keep up or some team will pack in a zone and they won’t be able to score. They’re 27th in KenPom and their record is inflated by how terrible the SEC is. Their SOS is on par with Gonzaga and SDST.
 
As a UK fan I agree with your assessment on the frontcourt. If Richards does get in foul trouble theres really not much of a backup option at the 5 spot. But our small ball lineup is decent at times but Sestina is a defensive liability and if hes not hitting 3s hes not bringing much to the table, kind of like Hurt for you guys.
 
A Maryland loss gives us some breathing room to work with. We'll still need to execute from here on out because there won't be a large gap.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Quavarius
We’re a 1 or 2 in the East with a Maryland loss. My guess is Dayton 1 Duke 2 East.

Win the two road games this week and we almost lock up a 1 or 2 in the East. We aren’t losing at home the final 2 games and an ACC tourney loss would likely not bump us off that 2 line, imo.
 
They can’t shoot. Some team will get hot and they won’t be able to keep up or some team will pack in a zone and they won’t be able to score. They’re 27th in KenPom and their record is inflated by how terrible the SEC is. Their SOS is on par with Gonzaga and SDST.

They shoot better than Duke did last year at the 3, and Duke was an E8 team. Again they shoot well from 2 and FT, and have 3 point guards out there. They’re going to cause problems.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jperry1987
They also don’t have anyone nearly as talented as Zion or RJ. Not even close.

Really not a good comparison LOL. They have a unique set up with 3 points that can get to the rack at will and D up. IIRC Barrett couldn’t get to the rack at will and was a mediocre FT shooter at best.

Again, UK is coming on strong. If I had my way I’d have them lose every game moving forward, but I don’t want Duke to face them this year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mac9192
I hope I am wrong but I really believe that the State game might be hard to overcome for a 1 seed. Not really the loss but how bad the loss was. Especially if State continues to lose and they have another bad loss to the holes. That could haunt us
 
They can’t shoot. Some team will get hot and they won’t be able to keep up or some team will pack in a zone and they won’t be able to score. They’re 27th in KenPom and their record is inflated by how terrible the SEC is. Their SOS is on par with Gonzaga and SDST.
Compare the resumes between UK and Duke. Quite similar except for id unbia
They also don’t have anyone nearly as talented as Zion or RJ. Not even close.
Lets be honest here. . Does any team have a Zion this year? No teams i can think of do. Kind of an invalid point. Lol. This also isnt last years college basketball. Its complete madness and a complete crapshoot on any given night. Last year there were 5-8 teams at this point in the season you could look at and say " yeah that team can win it all" , this year not so much. Yes Kansas is looking like a hard out and maybe Baylor but any other team in the top 10- 15 can be beaten by anyone or beat anyone on any given night. Sure there are a few teams starting to look really good but i believe this year the madness will be a real thing come March.
 
Compare the resumes between UK and Duke. Quite similar except for id unbia

Lets be honest here. . Does any team have a Zion this year? No teams i can think of do. Kind of an invalid point. Lol. This also isnt last years college basketball. Its complete madness and a complete crapshoot on any given night. Last year there were 5-8 teams at this point in the season you could look at and say " yeah that team can win it all" , this year not so much. Yes Kansas is looking like a hard out and maybe Baylor but any other team in the top 10- 15 can be beaten by anyone or beat anyone on any given night. Sure there are a few teams starting to look really good but i believe this year the madness will be a real thing come March.
Yeah I agree with this. There are like 15 teams that can win it
 
Really not a good comparison LOL. They have a unique set up with 3 points that can get to the rack at will and D up. IIRC Barrett couldn’t get to the rack at will and was a mediocre FT shooter at best.

Again, UK is coming on strong. If I had my way I’d have them lose every game moving forward, but I don’t want Duke to face them this year.

Please try to follow my point then. You were saying that uk had better shooters than duke and duke made an E8. True, Duke had a historically bad shooting team. But Duke had 2 generationally good college players in RJ and Zion. UK does not. So if you are comparing the two teams and pointing out a possible inference, you should also point out what differentiates the two teams. My point again, a lot.
 
Compare the resumes between UK and Duke. Quite similar except for id unbia

Lets be honest here. . Does any team have a Zion this year? No teams i can think of do. Kind of an invalid point. Lol. This also isnt last years college basketball. Its complete madness and a complete crapshoot on any given night. Last year there were 5-8 teams at this point in the season you could look at and say " yeah that team can win it all" , this year not so much. Yes Kansas is looking like a hard out and maybe Baylor but any other team in the top 10- 15 can be beaten by anyone or beat anyone on any given night. Sure there are a few teams starting to look really good but i believe this year the madness will be a real thing come March.

I wasn’t comparing the two teams, I was responding to someone who was.
 
I stopped guessing. The committee is so fast and loose with BS, it talks out of both sides of its mouth.

First, the geographic thing. That is how they justified the 6th team on the s-curve to be paired with 1 in 2019 when there was literally no geographic difference between the east and midwest. Hell, i am sure msu would have been happy to be in the mw and let us have Michigan, who was 8 last year. But yet 4 gets 8 and 1 gets 6?

but geography! Tell that to the 2003 Duke team, a three seed, not only being put in the west region. But also being shipped off to Utah for the first two rounds. Add insult to injury, Duke played a first round game in elevation against a team (Colorado State) that at that time was in Utahs conference so played on that court every year.

the year we lost to South Carolina in the second round, let’s send Duke as the 2 seed to the nearest location that is in the same state as the seven seed? We are protecting the seven seed? GTFO.

then in 2013, for the sake of geography, they stick us with Louisville?

Lets talk injuries. Let’s go back to 2013. Whenever Miamis loss to FGCU was brought up, a key player for Miami was hurt. But no mention of 4-of-5 Of Duke’s losses were without a key starter.

So let’s bring up this year. Have you heard anyone bring up the fact two of Duke’s losses were without a key player who would have made a huge difference in each game?

And let’s use the conference regular season valued more than the conference tournament. Bull. If that was the case, how did the nine seed in the BE tournament in 2011 wind up with a three seed in the dance? How did a team in the big 10 in Iowa, who was not even considered a bubble team, win the conference tournament and wind up a 7 seed?

and the mid majors. They are good. But you cannot give them a pass because of a lack of opportunity for key wins or have gaudy records. I am sorry, the Mountain West is horrendous this year. A loss at home for SDSU to a team with a .500 record is worse than any Duke loss.

and the WCC. God bless Zaga, but outside them, St. Marys and BYU, it is a trash conference.

Meanwhile, the ACC isn’t as bad as people think. Only Miami, UNC, and Wake is hot garbage. If Pitt, Clemson, BC, GT (if they were eligible for postseason), Syracuse can make the NIT, they could easily make noise.

Someone compared UK and Duke and similarities. Here is a big difference. Duke has beaten 5 conference opponents by 30+. UK squeaks by a lot of bad opponents. Eye test, UK is no 2...
 
UK has gotten a lot better, they always do if we’re being honest. UK also has trailed at home to bad teams late into games and have barely won against teams out of the top 100.
They could just as easily lose in the first round as they could make the final four.

Hopefully their terrible non-conference resume’ sticks them with Kansas or Baylor.
 
Please try to follow my point then. You were saying that uk had better shooters than duke and duke made an E8. True, Duke had a historically bad shooting team. But Duke had 2 generationally good college players in RJ and Zion. UK does not. So if you are comparing the two teams and pointing out a possible inference, you should also point out what differentiates the two teams. My point again, a lot.

Please try to follow along here:

- you certainly can make it further in the tourney being average or slightly less than average at long range shooting.
- Kentucky does in fact have better 3 point shooting, and better FT than Duke did, that’s a statistical fact
- Zion was a generational talent, RJ was a very good player but I wouldn’t say generational given his FT shooting, 3pt shooting, and average D. He certainly was hyped as generational, though.
- having 3 point guards that can get to the rim makes a huge difference, especially when they’re pretty close to automatic when they get to the FT line, something Zion and RJ were not.

Hope that’s clear enough!
 
Please try to follow along here:

- you certainly can make it further in the tourney being average or slightly less than average at long range shooting.
- Kentucky does in fact have better 3 point shooting, and better FT than Duke did, that’s a statistical fact
- Zion was a generational talent, RJ was a very good player but I wouldn’t say generational given his FT shooting, 3pt shooting, and average D. He certainly was hyped as generational, though.
- having 3 point guards that can get to the rim makes a huge difference, especially when they’re pretty close to automatic when they get to the FT line, something Zion and RJ were not.

Hope that’s clear enough!

It actually isn’t. I have no idea what the point of that response was or where you are going with this.

Let’s try to bring it back to the original point; the talk was UK’s poor shooting possibly hurting them in the tournament. You said well Uk shoots it better than Duke did last year and Duke made an E8. I pointed out that there were 2 major reasons why Duke was able to win games, neither of which would help this UK team.

Let’s just stop there. Once you started throwing LOL’s around you stopped making any sense. You compare UK to Duke and then LOL when someone responds and differentiates the two teams, saying it was a bad comparison. Correct, the two teams shouldn’t be compared. Listen to your own advice.
 
It actually isn’t. I have no idea what the point of that response was or where you are going with this.

Let’s try to bring it back to the original point; the talk was UK’s poor shooting possibly hurting them in the tournament. You said well Uk shoots it better than Duke did last year and Duke made an E8. I pointed out that there were 2 major reasons why Duke was able to win games, neither of which would help this UK team.

Let’s just stop there. Once you started throwing LOL’s around you stopped making any sense. You compare UK to Duke and then LOL when someone responds and differentiates the two teams, saying it was a bad comparison. Correct, the two teams shouldn’t be compared. Listen to your own advice.

Again, things that couldn’t help Duke last year that would help this UK team (not sure how much more clear I can get)......this UK team has things that Duke team didn’t: better post defense, better 3 point shooting, better FT shooting, 3 point guards on the floor at the same time, a better true 5....but somehow this is all negated by a generational player? Interesting. Barrett? Could he really get to the rim at will? No. Zion? Yes. He’s a different type of player but iirc the intent is to get the ball in the basket, and if you can do so at will, a la Zion, or UK’s 3 parallel pg’s, you’re in good shape. Difference there though, is if fouled and headed to the FT line, that’s where Zion was less effective at approx 66% (UK 3 guards are 75%, 87% and 91%).

And dude, the LOL is at these posts - nothing personal. You’re reaching, and I laughed. Then you tried to “bring it back to the point” after taking a detour. Would you prefer that I communicate laughter a different way? If so, I’m happy to do so. I still read and laugh at the comments. All good.

Bottom line is this: many team have been around the mid 100’s in 3 point shooting or worse, and made the E8 and even FF (Michigan in 2018 at 156th as most recent example, South Carolina at 243rd in 2018 - who was their generational talent?). To say that’s the reason why they can’t make it alone is narrow minded, generational talent or not. Now if I’m missing some other huge weakness on this UK team then I’m open and happy to be educated as I’d prefer UK never win another game again, ever.

PS - apologies for all of these edits/typos. WiFi at 38k feet sucks this morning.
 
Last edited:
Again, things that couldn’t help Duke last year that would help this UK team (not sure how much more clear I can get)......this UK team has things that Duke team didn’t: better post defense, better 3 point shooting, better FT shooting, 3 point guards on the floor at the same time, a better true 5....but somehow this is all negated by a generational player? Interesting. Barrett? Could he really get to the rim at will? No. Zion? Yes. He’s a different type of player but iirc the intent is to get the ball in the basket, and if you can do so at will, a la Zion, or UK’s 3 parallel pg’s, you’re in good shape. Difference there though, is if fouled and headed to the FT line, that’s where Zion was less effective at approx 66% (UK 3 guards are 75%, 87% and 91%).

And dude, the LOL is at these posts - nothing personal. You’re reaching, and I laughed. Then you tried to “bring it back to the point” after taking a detour. Would you prefer that I communicate laughter a different way? If so, I’m happy to do so. I still read and laugh at the comments. All good.

Bottom line is this: many team have been around the mid 100’s in 3 point shooting or worse, and made the E8 and even FF (Michigan in 2018 at 156th as most recent example, South Carolina at 243rd in 2018 - who was their generational talent?). To say that’s the reason why they can’t make it alone is narrow minded, generational talent or not. Now if I’m missing some other huge weakness on this UK team then I’m open and happy to be educated as I’d prefer UK never win another game again, ever.

PS - apologies for all of these edits/typos. WiFi at 38k feet sucks this morning.

Nothing personal, let’s just move on....
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fourteen44
As of today, per ESPN’s Bracketology, Duke is a 2 seed in the East:

1- San Diego State
2- Duke
3- Seton Hall
4- Penn State
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT